In February 1989, late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, pronouncing a death sentence against British author Salman Rushdie for his1988 novel The Satanic Verses.
Khomeini ruled the book blasphemous to Islam and exhorted all Moslems to execute the sentence.
For almost 10 years, Rushdie lived in safe houses around London, guarded around the clock.
He was persona non grata in his native India, the first country to ban his book.
The controversial problem hindered relations between Iran and European countries.
In 1996, the Iranian government began softening its stance on the edict, claiming it was a religious rather than executive decree, and that it never intended to carry it out.
Islamic hardliners and clerics in and out of Iran protested that the government didn't have the right to change a fatwa and called for Rushdie's death.
A private Iranian foundation raised its bounty on Rushdie from $2 million to $2.5, then $2.8 million.
A hard-line student group offered a 1 billion riyal ($333,000) reward.
Residents of an Iranian village offered land and carpets as bounty.
Thousands of Iranian clerics and theological students pledged a month's salary and said they were ready to execute the edict.
In September 1998, the Iranian government disassociated itself from the fatwa and any reward.
The EU welcomed the essential lifting of the death sentence.
A year later, Rushdie said his life had improved, though still not 100% normal.
Eleven years after its issue, Islamic hard-liners still claimed the fatwa to be in effect.
